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Back to Monday after a nice, busy weekend is sometimes a little refreshing! We had lots going on since it was one of the few weekends I did not have to judge. Highlight: getting my hurr did after 8 LONG months of looking like a hotmess with roots!!!! 🙂

This week I am back with another workout review…. Orangetheory Fitness. I attended one of their classes last week that was like no other I’d ever experienced. The point of the hour-long class, focused on heart-rate interval training, was to spend 12-20 minutes in the “orange zone,” which is 84% of your heart rate thereby pushing yourself intermittently throughout the class in order to burn calories for up to 36 hours AFTER your workout. Uhhhh OK!!! I love burning calories while I am not even moving. When I first heard about the classes, everything I read was positive but that it is pretty brutal. I was up for the challenge 🙂

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I wore my favorite leggings for good luck!!! 🙂

Okay, then. Upon entering the class, I was handed a heart monitor so I could view my heart rate zone (one of four) on a huge screen above the treadmills.

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The lady at the counter said to wrap it around your chest under your sports bra and it monitors your heart rate the whole class. My first thought was “Awesome, my boobs will probably block the sensor and all my calories wont be tracked!!”… But she said that’s where most ladies put theirs so I was like “Ok… under the boobs you go” 🙂 (Don’t worry, they wash the straps and monitors) I was told my heart rate, along with everyone else’s in the class, is displayed on screens in the studio. It shows your heart rate, % of max heart rate, and the color indicates which heart rate zone you are working in. You can also see an estimate of calories burned. The session aims to take your heart rate to a target zone – the Orange Zone – to stimulate your metabolism.

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The instructor showed me around and explained how the class works. She explained that every class is different but this class would be focused on ALL around interval exersice!! Guess I picked the right night to come try it out! During the class I went from rowing 15 minutes on a row machine (killer), 15 minutes of strength-training moves (chest presses, squat jumps, etc.) with dumbbells then the last 30 minutes of jogging/sprinting on the treadmill. Since I’m not a big fan of machines such as treadmills and rowers, I actually felt nervous that I wouldnt make it through the hour. Watching the runners on the treadmill the first 30 minutes sweating and dying while I was doing the other two stations made me wonder if I was going to fall down and die!

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The instructor was super helpful if I started looking lost as to what she was calling out and that was great! I could feel the burn on squats and then my arms were burning from all the rowing I had already done. It was time for our group to hit that treadmills and it was do or die time. It is interval running so we stayed at a normal pace for about 3-5 minutes then it was sprinting all out for 1-2 minutes. Oh and did I mention we were on an incline the whole time…. yea (DYING!!) It actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it be while I was watching it from the other side but I was sweating and breathing heavily. Being a runner helps with this part of the class but I am by no means a sprinter so that was challenging. While we are running she is making sure our heart rate is in the orange zone on the screen…. and she is watching everyone! There are lots of names on the board, but I was focused on my own and no one else. Your heart rate zones won’t be the same as anyone else’s, so the only person that you’re competing against is yourself.

Getting such immediate, visual, data-driven feedback on your workout is incredibly motivating. I was soaked and tired by the end of class but felt really good! She explained my results to me based on what my monitor captured through the workout. In the end, I burned 600 calories and spent more time than I thought in the orange zone, which means I may still be burning calories today… I also like that I was emailed a report following the session, so that I can also compare data across classes and aim for improvements.

I was pretty proud of myself for making through my first class and not looking like a total hotmess. There was a girl who actually walked out in the middle of class… I was like” bye girl” as I kept looking like I knew what I was doing 🙂 lol

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Overall, this class is awesome! I totally recommend everyone giving it a try and testing out the interval training side of your fitness. I love the focus of keeping your workout hardcore and not letting yourself just be mediocre the whole time. And did I mention the music was pretty legit too!!! Jamming to hip hop songs from the early 2000’s made the class go by a lot faster!

Have you tried Orangetheory, Flywheel or any other monitored cardio/strength classes? Thoughts? 

I would love to hear what your favorite gyms/programs are and recommendations of what I should try next!

Brittany 🙂

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